Media Issue Devastating Reactions to Hillary’s ’Clinton Cash’ Revelations

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

On Sunday, journalists and political analysts across the ideological spectrum blasted Hillary and Bill Clinton’s actions as revealed in the forthcoming bombshell book all of Washington is buzzing about, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.

Fresh off the heels of the White House Correspondents’ dinner Saturday night, Sunday’s political shows were flooded with commentary on Clinton Cash.

Here are some highlights (all emphases added):

Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin: The Clinton Cash revelations are “extraordinarily serious,” said Halperin. “Here’s why you know this is serious because any Democrat, almost any Democrat, who is not on the Clinton’s payroll will tell reporters and others that these are serious issues, forget the politics. These are serious issues… All these donors who gave, and all these people who paid President Clinton to give speeches, what kind of communication did they have with people in the government? That may not be a quid pro quo, but everybody knows that a lot of those donations were from people who wanted access to the Clintons.”

National Journal’s Ron Fournier: “You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorists here, Chris, to know the foreign companies hope to buy influence. You don’t have to be a lawyer to know that they violated ethics laws. You don’t have to be an historian to know they have the history of having an ethical blind spot. You don’t have to be a political scientist to know this has the potential as president and if she becomes president, trust we have in a leader. This is very bad politics. This is very bad governance.” 

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd: “Journalists have been working themselves into a frenzy over a new book on the Clintons that’s about to be released. It’s called Clinton Cash… Eight years ago, Democrats were hammering publicly about this. This time they are doing it privately. I heard an earful last night [at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner] from various Democrats, some who work in the Clinton campaign that said, “Why is she still taking foreign donations? Why is the Foundation—they narrowed it down, now they are going to take them from European countries and Canada. They got rid of some of the despot states.”

Bloomberg Politics’ John Heilemann said, “There are now several, that we know of at this moment, several documented instances where whether or not it’s illegal where they broke their agreement with the administration. And when you think about the president having set a standard of being the most transparent and open administration in history and what the Clintons have done here clearly is not the most transparent and open. And I think they’ve—whether it’s illegal or not—violated the spirit of President Obama’s presidency.”

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin: “I think what still boggles the mind, why doesn’t Hillary deal with this herself right now… I think she has to answer this herself.”

New York Times Political Reporter Peter Baker: “This is a big issue for Hillary Clinton.”

Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel: “Everyone seems to understand this is a huge problem, other than the Clintons. Even the Obama administration said you have to sign up for these disclosure rules because we understand that this is a problem. The Clintons seem to think that the normal rules don’t apply to them.”

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: “Imagine you’re sitting at some finance ministry in Uganda or somewhere, ‘Well, the Clintons have asked for $100,000. You know, we’re a poor country. Should we give it to them? You know, also the president’s out on a speaking tour, should we give him a speech, you think? What will we get out of that?’ They’ve got to be thinking of that. So, it’s social access, It’s sovereignty access. But when countries give you money, they want something besides love.”

Former Democratic San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown: “Stories are popping up left and right about the millions of dollars from foreign powers that went to the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of state. This has the potential of being a bigger liability than the e-mail affair or Benghazi because taking money from a foreign government when you hold a Cabinet job is a potential conflict of interest that everyone can grasp…“It could even be fatal to Clinton’s candidacy, if it balloons into an ongoing story and the Republicans open a congressional investigation.”

Clinton Cash hits bookstores nationwide May 5.

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